Saturday, November 1, 2008

The rascally parrotfish is the iconoclast of the sea. For starters, it excretes sand. It's many tiny teeth scour coral reefs, breaking off chunks which are swallowed whole and broken down and released in colorful bits (and that's where Fruity Pebbles come from kids). But that's nothing compared to the fact that it can change sex at will, and will do so several times in its seven year lifespan. But wait we forgot about the pajamas! The parrotfish (clearly) needs its beauty rest, and so when it tucks itself among the crags of the reef for a nap, it secretes an all encompassing bubble of mucous which prevents its scent from attracting hungry eels while it sleeps. Mucous pajamas - now you know what to get Julian Schnabel for Christmas.

This site is generally about our visceral, inexplicable, and sometimes ecstatic connection to animals and/or artistic representations of animals. It attempts to understand what animals mean to us both as living creatures and as powerful symbols that reach deep into our mind's eye and shape many aspects of our own consciousness.

Anthroporphism is something we seem biologically programed to do. As humans, we are prone to sentimentalize objects, ideas, and of course, animals to fit our perceptual, behavioral, and emotional apparatus. Since we can never fully comprehend the inner life of an animal, how shall we treat their "otherness" as we share life on Earth together? With respect to be certain. Still, we are left with our own skewed and humanized impressions, which manifest over and over in our culture - powerful reminders of our chosen "departure" from the nature and our animal cousins.